Automatic alarm clock



Oct. 5, 1937. w. KOHLHAGEN AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK Filed March 16, 1936 2SheetS-Shee't 1 ddh j Wii n i, w, fa 6 HM. m M m lf Mr Y! P M a w UJ jOct. 5, 1937. w. KOHLHAGEN AUTOMATIC ALARM CLCK Filed March 1e, 1.936

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 5, 1937 AUTQMATIC ALARM CLOCK WalterKohlhagen, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to The Waterbury Clock Company,Waterbury, Conn., a corporation o! Connecticut Application March 16,1936, Serial No. 89,074

7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in automatic alarm clocks.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved automatic alarmclock formed of simple elements readily manufactured and readilyassembled to produce a durable efcient construction at low cost.

With the above and other objects in view, this invention includes allimprovements over the prior art which are disclosed in this application.

In the accompanying drawings, ln which one way of carrying out theinvention is shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. lis a front elevation of the movement of the alarm clock; 1

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of a fragmental portion of the back-platewith the rear shut-oil' lever shown in sectionin relation thereto;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a perspective View, partly broken away, of the constructionshown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a rear perspective view of a portion of the construction shownin Fig. 5.

In the description and claims, the various parts are identified byspecific names for convenience, but they are intended to be as genericin their application as the prior art will permit.

Referring to the drawings, Ill and Il are front and rear movement-platesconnected together by pillars I2 and carrying the parts of the movementof an alarm clock.

'I'he particular movement illustrated has an electric motor I3,preferably synchronous, which receives alternating current from wires I4and l5. 'I'he electric motor is geared down within the casing I6 toprovide a seconds center-arbor I1 which has a seconds pinion I8 securedthereto and in driving relation with a reduction-wheel I9 carrying apinion 20 which in turn meshes with the minute-Wheel 2| frlctionallysecured to the minute-sleeve 22. Mounted on the minutesleeve 22 forwardof the front movement-plate I0 is a minute-pinion 23 which meshes withthe dial-wheel 24 having the dial-pinion 25 secured thereto and which inturn drives the hourwheel 25 rigidly secured to the hour-sleeve 25h. Thedial-pinion 25 has secured thereto for concurrent rotation therewith asecondary dialpinion 26 meshing with an alarm-wheel 21 to which issecured the alarm-cam 28. 'Ihe alarmset arbor or sta 29 is frictionallymounted for rotation by means of the collar 30 secured to the arbor 28and frictionally pressed against movement-plate Il by means of acompression-spring 3| pressing between the front movement-plate I0 andthe collar 32 secured on the arbor 29.

The front end of the arbor 28 has secured thereto an alarm-set finger 33in engagement with 5 the alarm-cam 28. The alarm-wheel 21 and itsalarm-cam 28 are mounted for limited longitudinal sliding movement onthe arbor 28 while remaining in mesh with pinion 26, being normally heldin outermost position by means of an alarmcontrol member 34 here shownin the form of a leaf-spring having its outer end provided with a'latch-shoulder 35 adapted to be engaged by a latch 36 formed on anend-portion of a shut-01T lever 31 pivoted at 38 on the frontmovementplate l0.

A tension-spring 38 normally tends to swing the lever 31 in ananti-clockwise direction. The shut-off lever 31 may have anangle-extension lever 40 extending through the back-plate 4i and havingmovement back and forth in the slot 42 of the back-plate 4I. If desiredto provide a permanent shut-off for the shut-off lever, this may beaccomplished by providing the notched portion 43, into which the outerend (shown in section in Fig. 3) of the extension lever 40 may besprung. The shut-off lever 31 may be provided with an arm 44 providedwith a fork 45 adapted to slidably engage a pin 46 carried by a lever 41pivoted at 48 on the front of the front movement-plate I0. The other arm49 of the lever 41 has a circular end 50 which slidably engages betweenthe fingers 5I and 52 of a shut-01T slide 53 slidably secured on thefront of the front movement-plate l0 by means of the headed pins 35 54and 55. 4

The upper end of the shut-off slide 53 has an angle-bend 56 adapted tobe connected with a top shut-off plunger 51 which extends out throughthe top of the case of the alarm clock. Either the top shut-off plunger51 or the shut-oli extension lever 40 may be provided alone, or both maybe provided on a clock, as desired.

The alarm-sounding member or bell 58 in th particular construction shownis electrically actuated by an electromagnet 59 receiving currentthrough the wires 68 and 6l. Bell 58 and electromagnet 59 are mounted onbracket 8| by means of screw 58m, the bracket 8i being secured to.movement-plate by rivets 8|. The wire 6l is'50 contacts 65 in positionto be engaged by a metallic bridging-contact-member 66 pivoted orrockably mounted at 61 on a vertically-slidable plate or bar ofinsulating material 68 mounted to slide vertically through a loweropening 69 in a U-bracket 10 and through an upper opening 1| in theinsulating-plate 632 'Ihe bridgingmember 66 has a pair of lugs 66El atopposite sides of its lower end adapted to limit the rocking movement ofthe bridging-member by engagement of the lugs 56a with opposite edges ofthe bar 68.

'I'he bar 68 extends through an opening 12 in the end of thealarm-control spring 34, which latter has its two sides 13 and 14 bentup and secured therein is a pin or rivet 15 which extends through a hole16 in the bar 68. A wire 11 leads from the contact 64 to theelectromagnet 59 for 1 actuating the bell 58.

The pole-piece 18 of magnetic material of the electromagnet extends to alocation adjacent the armature of magnetic material forming a hammer 19secured to a leaf-spring 80, which latter In operation, the alarm-setarbor 29 is turned' to bring the alarm-cam finger 33 to the desiredposition corresponding to the time it is desired that the alarm shouldsound. Alternating current being supplied to the alarm clock through thewires I4 and I5 results in the synchronous electric motor of the clockactuating the time-train and through the latter, as previouslydescribed, actuating the alarm-wheel 21, which latter makes one completerevolution in each twenty-four-hour period.

When the alarm-wheel 21 has been rotated to a position to bring thenotch 82 beneath the camnger 33, the alarm-control member or spring 34shifts the alarm-wheel 21 and its cam 28 vertically upwards, as seen inFig. 2, and hence moves the outer end of the alarm-control spring 34 andthe bar 68 upwardly, to thus carry the rockable bridging-member 66 intocontact with the pair of electric contacts 65, whereupon currentactuates the electromagnet 59 to cause the magnetic hammer 19 to strikethe bell or sounding-member 58.

When it is desired to stop the alarm, this can be done by pressing downon the top shut-of! plunger-rod 51 or by swinging the shut-oft extensionlever 40 downwardly, either of which procedures causes the latch 36 ofthe shut-oi lever 31 to ride along the cam-surface 83 of thealarmcontrol spring 34 until the latch 36 snaps past the latch-shoulder35, whereupon the alarm-control spring 34 springs upwardly to cause thelatch 36 and latch-shoulder 35 to engage, thus holding the shut-offlever 31 in the position described. In this operation of latching theparts 35 and 36, the bar 68 has been forced downwardly and held in aposition such as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, with the bridging-member66 below and out of contact with the pair of contacts 65, thus breakingthe electric circuit to the electromagnet 59 and stopping the soundingof the alarm.

As the time-train of the clock continues to operate, the alarm-wheel 21continues to rotate to cause the sloping portion 84 of the alarm-cam 28to engage the cam-finger 33 and thus depress the alarm-control spring34, which presses the Watch-shoulder 35 down away from the latch 36 tothus release the shut-oil lever 31, which thereupon is pulled away fromits latching position by means of the spring 39, thus automaticallyresetting the alarm, ready for actuation at the next twenty-four-houralarm interval.

During the period of time from the unlatching of the shut-0E lever 31until the sounding of the alarm, the bridging-member 66 is held down outof contact with the electric contacts 65, as a result of the alarm-cam28 and alarm-wheel 21 maintaining the alarm-control spring 34 depresseduntil the notch 82 of the cam 28 again registers with the alarm-cam nger33, whereupon the alarm-control spring 34 again raises the bar 68 andthe bridging-member 66 into engagement with'the switch-contacts 65. tothus again sound the alarm.

If for any reason, it is desired to permanently shut off' the alarm andnot have it sound at its normal sounding times, this can be accomplishedin any suitable way. One way is by springing the extension lever 40laterally until it engages in the notch 43, thus permanently holding theshut-off lever 31 with its latch 36 in latching position above thealarm-control spring 34.

The invention may be carried out in other speciflc ways than that hereinset forth without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristics of the invention, and the present embodiment istherefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electric switch having a closable portion; aspringactuated alarm-control member connected to said closable portionand having a latch-shoulder; a spring-actuated alarm shut-off memberspringbiased to inoperative position and having a latch to engage saidlatch-shoulder when the alarmcontrol member is in a position to allowactuation of the alarm thereby to hold said alarmcontrol member andalarm shut-off member against actuation by their respective springs; andrelease mechanism adapted to release said latch, and subsequentlyrelease said alarm-control member to move said closable portion of saidelectric switch to initiate the actuation of said alarm-actuatingmechanism.

2. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electring switch having a closable portion; aspring-actuated alarm-control member carrying said closable portion andhaving a latch-shoulder; a spring-actuated alarm shut-oi memberspring-biased to inoperative position and having a latch to engage saidlatch-shoulder when the alarm-control member is in a position to allowactuation of the alarm thereby to hold said alarm-control member andalarm shut-oil member against actuation by their respective springs; andrelease mechanism adapted to release said latch, and subsequentlyrelease said alarm-control member to move said closable portion of saidelectric switch to initiate the actuation of said alarm-actuatingmechanism.

3. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electric switch having a rockable, closableportion; a spring-actuated alarm-control member carrying saidrockable,`closable portion and having a latch-shoulder; aspring-actuated alarm shut-off member spring-biased to inoperativeposition and having a latch to engage said latchshoulder when thealarm-control member is in a position to allow actuation of the alarmthereby to hold said alarm-control member and alarm shut-oil' memberagainst actuation by their respective springs; and release mechanismadapted to release said latch, and subsequently release saidalarm-control member to move said rockable, closable portion of saidelectric switch to initiate the actuation o! said alarm-actuatingmechanism.

4. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electric switch having a closable portion; aspring-actuated alarm-control member having a slidable part carryingsaid closable portion and having a. latch-shoulder; a spring-actuatedalarm shut-oilr member spring-biased to inoperative position and havinga latch to engage said latchshoulder when the alarm-control member is ina position to allow actuation of the alarm thereby to hold said slidablealarm-control member and alarm shut-ofi member against actuation bytheir respective springs; and release mechanism adapted to release saidlatch, and subsequently release said slidable alarm-control member tomove said closable portion of said electric switch to initiate theactuation of said alarm-actuating mechanism.

5. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electric switch having a rockable, closableportion; a spring-actuated alarm-control member having a slidable partcarrying said rockable, closable portion and having a latch-shoulder; aspring-actuated alarm shut-oil member springbiased to inoperativeposition and having a latch to engage said latch-shoulder when thealarmcontrol member is in a position to allow actuation ot the alarmthereby to hold said slidable alarmtion of said electric switch toinitiate the actuation of said alarm-actuating mechanism.

6. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electric switch having a closable portion; aspringactuated alarm-control member connected to said closable portionand having a latch-shoulder; a spring-actuated pivoted alarm shut-olfmember spring-biased to inoperative position and having a latch toengage said latch-shoulder when the alarm-control member is in a.position to allow actuation of the alarm thereby to hold saidalarm-control member and alarm shut-01T member against actuation bytheir respective springs, and operating mechanism including a levermeansconnected to said alarm shut-oil member; and release mechanism adaptedto release said latch, and subsequently release said alarm-controlmember to move said closable portion of said electric switch to initiatethe actuation of said alarm-actuating mechanism.

7. An automatic alarm clock comprising: electric alarm-actuatingmechanism including an electric switch having a closable portion; aspring-actuated alarm-control member connected to said closable portionand having a latchshoulder; a spring-actuated alarm shut-off memberspring-biased to inoperative position and having a latch to engage saidlatch-shoulder when the alarm-control member is in a position to allowactuation of the alarm thereby to hold said alarm-control member andalarm shut-off member against actuation by their respective springs andhaving a spring hand-lever, and means adjacent the normal path ofmovement of said spring hand-lever into locking engagement with whichsaid hand-lever may be sprung; and release mechanism adapted to releasesaid latch, and subsequently release said alarm-control member to movesaid closable portion of said electric switch to initiate the actuationof said alarm-actuating mechanism.k

WALTER KOHLHAGEN.

